DEMA 2013: Day 2

PADI Revises the Open Water Diver Course

PADI is the largest certification agency on the planet, so I like to see what’s changing so we can see how one section of the dive industry sees the future of diving. I’m also a semi-retired PADI instructor, so I don’t get weird looks when I walk in to these seminars.

The last few years, PADI has taken some heat for being too easy on divers. One of the biggest complaints recently has been that divers learn, practice, and verify skills while kneeling on the bottom of a pool, lake, river, or ocean. As experienced divers, we know you can’t simply drop to the bottom every time you want to clear the water from your mask, so a few other agencies have started requiring mid-water skills practice. PADI has followed suit, while adding additional skills such as deploying an SMB. These changes should make for more skilled divers, something we can all appreciate.

Dive Equipment

Here’s a gallery of some of the fun new stuff coming out.

Henderson had some kind of underwater rocket on display. There were far more of these types of things this year, I forgot mine.

An OLED dive computer from Aeris, the A300 CS

Hollis's new sidemount unit, the SMS75 is more streamlined than the SMS100 with more lift capacity than the SMS50.

OLED dive computers are increasing in popularity. This model from xDeep, the Black, is software upgradeable to go from a basic bottom timer, through Nitrox, to Trimix capabilities. Nitrox and Trimix coming in 2014.

GoPro had some kind of underwater rocket ship on display. I was denied a chance to drive it.

Who needs a dry suit with four inflators and three exhausts? SiTech, the manufacturer of dry suit valves of course!

American Underwater Products (AUP) is bringing back the classic Omega design for all three of their brands. Here is the Oceanic version.

The Oceanic Omega 3 in white.

This is the Hollis version of the newly re-released Omega-inspired line from AUP. I gutted one, they are incredibly well built.

Light and Motion displays their new Gobe light, a modular lighting system for a wide variety of applications.

After The Show

The plan after the show was to attend the annual Dive Photo Guide / Wetpixel party. It’s a great way to meet others in the industry and best of all, it was in the hotel so I didn’t have to walk any more after a long day on my feet. Unfortunately, 45 minutes after it was supposed to start there was no signs of a party.

Luckily our friends at ScubaNation came to the rescue and invited me to their party! I’m in Oregon typically, these guys are in Florida, so I’d never actually met them. While I watched my Oregon Ducks lose to Stanford, they were incredibly supportive and insanely entertaining. It’s no wonder their show keeps growing, Billy, Mitch, and the rest of the ScubaNation crew (including some ScubaRadio mermaids) are incredibly fun people that keep the sport of diving enjoyable.